Stockings



(NoModeLj G. WINTBRBOTTOM.

ART 0F KNITTING STUGKINGS'.

,MM m,

'JW gb' Maa? v UNITED STATES vPlrrEnrr OEEicEa l CHARLES WINTERBO'ITOM, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-THIRD T CAROLINE S. PUSEY, OF SAME PLAGE.

ART OF KNITTING STOCKINGS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 249,283, dated November 8, 1881.

' Applicationiled April-26,18%. (No model.)

To all whom fitfmoy concern Be it known that I, CHARLES WINTEREOT- TGM, a citizen ot the United States, residing at the city and county of Philadelphia, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented new and useful Improvements in the Art of Knitting Stockings; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, sufficient to enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to the art of knitting seamless stockings with that class of knittingmachines operating upon the principle of those havin g needle-and cam cylinders-such, for example, as the patented Branson, Bicktord, or Tuttle machines; and its Objectis to savetime and labor in making stockings by such machines. This is attained by an improved mode sys of manipulating the knitting-machine and the Work made by it at certain stages, as Will hereinafter appear in detail.

That my improvements may be clearly understood by comparison, I shall first state, in a general Way, the most usual method ot' knitting a seamless stocking bya circular machine, referring, as may be necessary, to the accompanying illustrations.

The stocking is begun at the top and ended at the toe portion. The iirst round otstitches is started by means of the set-upf the yarn being looped under the hooks of the set-up and around the needles, as seen in Figure 7, y being the yarn looped around the needles N and set-upl hooks H. The setting up is repeated in beginning to knit every stocking.

lIhe machine is now operated and the stockin g knit and thrown off the needles in a manner Well known to those skilled in the art.. It is,

however, not yet'complete, for there remains the toe-gap O, Fig. 5, to be closed up. This is usually done by drawing the opposite stitches together by means of ,needle and thread, as

v shown in the magniiied view, Fig. 6. A stocking made substantially-in this Way is termed a seamless stocking.l In forming the toe part all the needles of one halt the cylinder C must rst belifted up--that is, put out of operation-as seen in Fig. l. The knitting then' proceeds rby running the machine backward vand forward, a needle on each side alternately of the dovvn half being lifted at each recipro- 'cation until the fabric is sniiciently narrowed-- that is, untilabout one-third on each side of the number of needlesof the half-circle left in operation have been liftedthen widened by pushing down these needles, one at a time,ya`s the machine knits across and back. It is not necessary to further describe this operation of forming the toe part of the stocking or in nice detail, as those who are fairly skilled in Working said machines are f'amiliarwith the process.

It is to he observed that the foregoing methodof making a finished seamless stocking requires, first, the setting up at the beginning of every stocking 5 second, that to properly form the toe a number of needles of one half the cylinder. must first be lifted up and afterward pushed down, one at a time; third, the 7o stocking, after having been finished by the machine, must he closed at the toe. Each ot' these operations consumes some time. Now, my improvement enables me to avoid them all, save Vonly that, in knitting the toev portion,

I need to lit't up a t'ew of the needles, yone by one, ofthe down halt at a certain stage, as hereinafter explained.

Another method of knitting seamless stockings is shown and described in McNarys' Pat- 8o ent No. 64,241, of April 30, 1867, in which the stocking is begun at the toe and finished at the top, and a continuous series of stockings is knit, they being afterward separated by cutting ott' near theline ot' junction of the top of 85 one stocking and the toe-pouch of the next l stocking.

I shall now proceed to elucidate my mode of operating, and to point out wherein it dii'ers from the most usual plan, irst above men- 9o ltioned, of knitting stockings by machines of the class aforesaid, reference being had, as the description proceeds, to the accompanying drawings. 1n these like letters always designate like parts. The only part of a machine A necessary to be yshown for my purpose is the circle of needles N in cylinder C. In Fig. l let it be supposed that the very first stocking S made by my improved method' has received its last course of stitches (at the rco top) and is hanging down within the cylinder and a few additional ,roundsof quite looselyknit stitches have been run off, forming a ring of demarkation, A. The latter is intended to assist in facilitating the throwing on of certain stitches, as hereinafter described. This is an important feature of my plan. A new stocking is now to bemade. First, the needles of half the cylinder are all lifted up, as -in the old way, preparatory to knitting the toe. It may be either the front or the back half thus suspended from operation, whichever may be more convenient. I now knit across back and forth a nember of courses equal to about onethird of the needles left to work. Here I effeet a saving, as in forming the toe partin the old way the lifting up of the needles one by one begins as soon as the toe is commenced, as before described. Next, I narrow the fabric by lifting a needle at each reciprocation of the machine until the usual number as in the old plan first aforesaid-that is, about one-third of the half-circle of needles left in operationare thus raised on each limb thereof, as seen in Fig. 2. I am not now obliged, in order to complete sufficient web for the fashioning of the toe, to push down these latter needles one at a time, as I have stated is done in knitting stockings by the old method, the latter requiring this to be done in order to widen, while I knit several courses even, and then narrow, as described, but do not widen. Thus I effect a second important saving. It will be observed that in knitting the toe-pouch in this way I make substantially the same number of stitches as in the old way first aforesaid, (or any other method known to ine,) the saving being effected in the modus operandi, the which I am enabled to do by commencing the stocking at the toe, as described. The appearance of the work at this stage is shown by Fig. 2, the web B being the toe part of the stocking thus formed preparatory to the next operation. This is as follows: After detaching the weight usually hung to the knitted web depending within the cylinder and having pushed down all the raised needles in Fig. 2, I lift oil the half-circle row of stitches ofthe rin gA, (which have, of course, remained in statu quo 011 the idle needles while the web was in process of formation.) l then draw the stocking S up through and above the needle-cylinder C, not, however, turning the stocking inside out, seize hold of the top part, T, of the stocking, as represented in Fig. 3, and deftly cast on the same needles, in place ofthe row of stitches or loops 'ust taken off, the identical row of stitches a: y z, Figs. 2, 3, and 4,11ext to the ring A, which stitches had necessarily been thrown off in knitting the toe portion of the stocking. The ring of demarkation greatly facilitates this operation, an expert operator throwing on a number ofthe stitches of the row simultaneously and quickly. As the formation of the toe was begun at the first row of stitches, a: y z, next the web A-that is to say, when one-hall the needles, Fig. l, had been raised-it follows that the number of the said rst row is equal to one-half the circle of needles.

The foregoing statement as to casting onto the idle needles the identical row of stitches y z is intended to be a general or substantial statement of that part of my method. In fact, however,if all the stitches .fr y z be thus thrown on a gap or hole will be left on each side of the toepouch, the size of which will depend upon the amount of stuffi. e., the number of courses knit withoutraisingthe needles. Therefore, in order to avoid this, I, instead of really casting on all of said stitches throw on the larger portion thereof, and also a few stitches of the web on each side a short distance in from the outer (sclvagc) side rows of stitches, so as to take up the surplus web, which, if not disposed of, would cause said gaps. The sum ofthe stitches, xy z row, thus east on and the few taken from the sides and cast on should, to make a perfect job, equal the numberof the halfcircle of needles, or, in other words, the number of the stitches @o y z. This surplus web is cut off when the stocking is separated from the toe-pouch, as hereinafter mentioned. In Fig. 4 this operation of casting on, represented as in progress by Fig. 3, is shown completed and the operator in the act of separating with scissors that portion or half-circle of web which connects the completed stocking S with the web on thcncedles. Thecylinderend being now thus spanned by the toe-web B, the remainder of the stocking maybe finished` in the usual way, reversing, however, the most customary order of succession as to knittingthe different parts ofthe stocking. In ending off the stocking previous to knitting the rounds A, I knit several rounds as tight as can conveniently be done compared with those adjacent, and in order to do this as eectually as may be done, I knit the stockingswith as smallgage needles as it is practicable to use in knitting the particular style or quality of goods being made, as the ner the needles the tighter these stitches can be made, as compared with those 0f the other parts of the stocking. The objectof thus ending off with tightly-knit stitches I explain as follows: In preparing the stocking for the market I usually clip off the top near the ring A, so that the former will end o' with the tight stitches. These do not easily ravel and they become more firmly set after the stocking has been washed. The object in knitting several rounds of these tight stitches is obvious, the tops being clipped off somewhat at random by scissors.

I/Vhen the stocking is completed a new one is again started at the toe part, and the operations I have just described are repeated, as desired.

My invention differs essentially from that shown in the said'McNary patent in this, that I employ7 the ring of demarkation A; that I draw the stocking up through the cylinder of the machine and use it in casting on the stitches of the toe-pouch, as before described 5 and that I tighten up the stitches at the top of the stocking near the line of separation for the purpose specied.

- setting'up with every stocking.

I am aware ofthe Branson and Nelson patent No. 156,838, of November 17, 187 el. It is therein stated that the connection ot the toe-pouch with the foot is made at the upper side of the toe at a point where there is the leastlwear. As in my method the same stitches fr y z that were thrown ofi' in beginning to knit the toe- -pouch are cast onto the idle needles and thev knitting is then proceeded with, it makes no di'erence whether the connection be made on the upper or the lower side of the toe, the same by my method being equally strong as any of the stitches of the fabric.

I am also aware ot' the House Patent, No. 112,346, ot' March 7,1871, wherein is described a series of stockings made continuously, and` separated by a draw-string; but itis plain that the line of demarkation A used by me is entirely different from Houses draw-string, and is for a diii'ercnt purpose. y

It is evident that the nished stocking might be thrown off or separated from the ring A just before beginning the toe-pouch ofthe succeeding stocking; but I do not recommend this to be done on account of its requiring the When knitting in this latter way I rst make the ring A, then the toe-pouch, as described, tinish o the stocking at the top and throw it oft the needles as in theusual way, first hereinbcfore mentioned, repeating the whole operation, as desired.

When the knitting is in progress the web is suitably weighted, as in the usual way. After the toe-web B is made to span the cylinder, as in Fig. 4, it maybe used as a receptacle to hold the weight or weights 5 or these may be hooked or clamped onto the web, as in the customary way. 0f course, in beginning to knit stockings for the rst on the machine, it' there should be no web already on the needles, the iirst round of stitches will have to be set up in some way. A few rounds of the loose web A may then be knit, just sufficient to serv-e as a holdby when the web B is done,in order to aid in throwing on the stitches, as in the manner shown in Fig. 3. There is another advantage in knitting the stitches A loosely, that when taken ott' the needles just previous to casting on the stitches of the toe-web they will come ott' readily.

'It may be observed that a semicircle of demarkation could be knit and used nearly as well as the circle.

In case the stocking is knit with two or more threads at once of the same or different colors, as is quite usual, a well-delined ring, A, may be made by breaking od one or more ot' the threads before beginning the latter, or such a line may be made by using a differently-colored thread from that of the adjacent stitches of the toe-pouch.

I may state that so far as concerns the knitting of the toe-pouch of a stocking preparatory to the throwing on ofthe stitches, as described, this might be done by lifting up and pushing down needles-that is, narrowing and widen- I claim as new, and wish to secure by Letters4 Patent, is-

1. The method of knitting machine-made seamless stockings consisting of the following continuous operations: iirst, knitting a distinctive ring of demarkation, as and for the purposes mentioned, then knitting the toe-pouch in the manner described, then disengaging the stitches of the said ring remaining on the half-circleotl idle needles, then throwing onto the idle needles the stitches which have been thrown ed the opposite needles in beginning to knit the toe-pouch, then bringing into operation all the needles of the machine and proceeding to knit the remaining parts oi' the stocking in the usual manner, substantially as described.

2. The method of knitting machine-made seamless stockings which consists in knitting a ring of demarkation of loosely-formed rows of stitches, then knitting the toe-pouch oi' the stocking in the manner described, then with the aid of said ring throwing onto the idle needles the stitches which have been thrown oli in beginning to knit the toe-pouch, then bringing into operation all the needles ot' the machine and knitting the. remainder of the stocking in the usual manner, all substantially as shown and described.

3. The method ot' knitting machine-made stockings which consists in first knitting a distinctive ring of demarkation, then knitting the toe-pouch, then disengaging the stitches ot' the said ring remaining on the half-circle of idle needles, then drawing the previously-iinished stocking up through the cylinder above the'needles thereof, then throwing onto the idle needles the stitches which were thrown off the opposite needles in beginning to knit the toe-pouch, then separating the finished stocking from the toe-pouch on the needles, and completing the newly-begun stocking in the lusual way, substantially as described.

CHARLES WINTERBOT'IOM.

Witnesses HENRY V. BUCKLEY, AsHBEL E. WARE.

IOO

IIO 

